25 Weeks & Christmas

Well, Carmen has just enjoyed her first Christmas.  It was low-key and low-stress, and a really nice time.  She received lots of presents but needed help unwrapping them all.  We had Grandma and Grandaddy over for breakfast and presents, and then lunch was at their place, which turned into an all day event and an overnight stay by the three of us.  The weather was perfect, and Carmen was very excited by all her gifts.  It is really great to get new toys and activities for her, because all of a sudden she is bored by all of her old toys.  Grandma and Grandaddy got her a Jolly Jumper, which she absolutely loves.  She got new activity toys, bath toys and some very cute clothes!  Jeffrey and I didn't do too badly ourselves, and we are enjoying Jeff's first Christmas not in hospitality in a very long time!

Our little Monkey's sleeping habits are still all over the place, and I am looking forward to the day when I can actually predict what she will be doing from one hour to the next!  Her new thing is rolling over in bed and then crying hysterically until we come and turn her back over.  We have tried patting her to sleep on her tummy, leaving her to cry, and the ever popular no-eye-contact-flip-her-back-over method.  Nothing is taking at the moment.  Hopefully she will learn to enjoy falling asleep on her tummy, or I am going to be one cranky and tired mum.  She is growing like crazy and I am interested to see how much she weighs and measures at her 6 month check-up, which should happen in a week or two.  She is also getting stronger and can almost sit up by herself - her max is about 10 seconds.  I keep getting told that things get easier after 6 months.  I have my doubts...

Two videos of Carmen in her Jolly Jumper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFO7x7z7LLY&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=3&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6DVN_ObuS8&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

24 Weeks

It has been a busy week!  Oma and Opa arrived from Switzerland and Carmen finally got to meet them.  It was lovely to see them again, and Carmen took to them very well.  We just wished they lived closer and could visit more often!

The weather was lovely (despite this being the coldest and rainiest summer ever!) and we made it for several beach walks.  Carmen is enthralled by the ocean - as long as she doesn't have to touch it, that is.

Carmie's sleep is still terrible, with two hours of insomnia each night.  However, for the last two nights her two hour wake-up has been from 8pm to 10pm.  Woo hoo!  And then she has slept through to 6:30am!  I'll take that any day!  Fingers crossed that this is here to stay.  She is also eating solids like a champ and has not refused a single food yet.  She opens her mouth like a happy goldfish, it is very cute.

Tonight Grandma and Grandaddy are taking care of her, so Jeffrey and I have the night off.  I wish I knew an icon for an insanely happy face, because I would insert it right here. 

Two videos of Carmen eating dinner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhLVbBgQzo&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJqZg03x-OM&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

23 Weeks

Well, it has been a very exciting but extremely tiring week!  Our friend Darren (Uncle Stretchy) was staying with us.  Carmen took to him and he was lovely company.  Despite the crap weather he got to see the sights and swim at the beach, and saw why we love it so much here.  Grandma and Grandaddy came home from their two month stay in Phuket, and yes, we were very happy to see them!  Thanks Grandma for babysitting Carmen for two days as soon as you got home!  We put up our first family Christmas tree (the 'small' tree Darren and Jeffrey brought back for us had to have at least two feet sawn from it!).  And Carmen's Auntie Georgia hosted a pre-Christmas family get together where Carmen got to meet her extended family, including her cousins Rufus and Lucy.  It was a busy week!  And to top it all off, Carmen is still suffering from her night insomnia and so am I :(  Every single night she is up for at least an hour and a half, with a few extra wake-ups here and there.  Hopefully this is just a phase and it will end soon!  Or else I might have to put her up for auction.  Any takers?

Happy at breakfast despite the lack of sleep.

Welcome home Grandma & Grandaddy.

Carmen with her Uncle Stretchy.

With Cousin Lucy.

Both a little worse for wear!

5 Months! (22 Weeks)

So, Carmen hit five months on Friday!  She is such a big girl, she now eats two meals a day from her big girl's high chair.  She loves her solids, and it doesn't seem to matter what it is that I give her, she opens her little mouth and eats it.  So, that is all good, but her sleeping has gone haywire again.  I take complete responsibility - I have been a little naughty and have been letting her go to sleep on the bottle (it is just SO easy that way!!).  But it has caused her night waking again, because now she can't go to sleep without a bottle in her mouth.  She also has insomnia after her night feed and is awake for an hour and a half.  As am I.  Every night.  3:30am to 5:00am.  So, we have been going through a bit of sleep training again - although crying it out is more like fussing it out now.  Yesterday she cry-fussed through two of her naps, but today she is doing a little better - this last nap she cry-fussed for 50 minutes before going to sleep, but almost two hours later she is still asleep - yay!

Our friend from the States Darren is in town.  Jeff went to Sydney to pick him up and then they had a boys' night out on the town.  Carmen and I had some mummy-daughter time.  We are hanging out for Grandma and Grandaddy to come back from Thailand, and also for Carmen to meet her Oma and Opa next week.  Very exciting!

3 videos at bath time, 5 months:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsNnShPHa48

http://www.youtube.com/user/MollymookSally?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/Y6dbodcH0jU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beWOp-cdki8

5 months old and in her big girl's high chair

21 Weeks

Well, Carmen hit 21 weeks on Saturday.  She has had several nights in a row of crumby sleep, as the photos below will attest.  Until last night, that is, when she had her best sleep ever - 8pm to 5:15am without a peep!  And now she is having a very long nap, so I think she is making up for many hours of lost sleep.  She has been rolling over from her back to her stomach, but not the other way round.  She can't seem to turn back over, she just cries instead.  She is now eating two meals of solids a day (breakfast and dinner), and she can sit up for about 3 seconds before she topples over.  We took her to the beach yesterday (I was hoping she would stop grizzling and get tired out!) and she still cried when I put her little feet in the water.
On another note, I finished two more paintings, and started exercising!  I have started doing yoga again, and I am terrible at it!!  As I said to Jeff, I was huffing and puffing like a fat woman trying to do yoga!  A ridiculous sight, but it must be done if I am to shift any of this much unwanted baby weight.  Ugh.
I hope you are all well.

This is a rather unexciting video of Carmen trying to roll over, but I thought the grandparents might like it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSx8pG_yvj4

This is what happens when babies don't get enough sleep.

Our morning at the beach.

20 Weeks

Little Miss Carmen had a good week - she had a couple of days where she did two extra-long naps, so maybe she's turning the corner.  It totally makes my day easier when she is not having four 40 minute naps!  Carmen spent Wednesday on Auntie Georgia's farm, (thank you Georgia!) so that I could do an art workshop.  It was lovely to have the break.  My paintings were not so good, but it was still a good day.  On Saturday it was Carmen's 20 week birthday.  We took her down to the beach to play with her friend Hannah.  Carmen put her feet in the water for the first time ever, but she didn't like it very much.  Like me, she thinks the water down here is just too damn cold right now!  Her daddy went body surfing though, and it was a lovely afternoon.  Not much else to report, which I am taking as a good sign!

Video of Carmen at the beach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGDIK01t6X4

Video of Carmen before her bath:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRJ7Mq6sUec

19 Weeks

Just a quick one today - I seem to have so little time these days!!  Carmen has had a good week - she has consistently only woken up once a night, which is wonderful.  She has also rolled over from her back to her stomach several times, but I have missed every single event.  She LOVES bananas and is actually swallowing her solid food now - although she is getting sweet potato today, so we'll see.  Her Uncle Sting came down for a visit - he hasn't seen her since she was a "raisin" (his term).  And Carmen actually let me take her on two walks this week in her pram!  Now that she can sit upright she doesn't seem to mind it, so yay (!) I can finally start shedding some poundage!  Of course yesterday was a heat wave so we couldn't take a walk, and now it is scheduled to rain for the next five days...
Also, I forgot to mention last week that at her 4 month doctor appointment Carmen got weighed and measured.  She started out life in the 10th percentile for weight and the 25th for height, and now she is in the 40th for weight and the 90th for height!  She takes after her father!!  I am thanking all the powers that be for that!  Let's just hope she stays tall and slender, shall we?

Uncle Sting and his girlfriend Jess

18 Weeks

Ummm, I think it has been a good week.?.  I don't really remember.  Jeffrey has been off working, so it was a lot of Carmen and Mummy alone time.  Carmen had her four month birthday on Wednesday, and to celebrate she turned over from her back to her tummy for the first (and only) time.  I, of course, missed the event.  I just found her complaining on her tummy in her playgym, and that was not how I had left her!  Yes, I am blessed with a baby I can leave for long periods of time in her playgym.  Does this make up for the crappy sleeper?  Maybe.  Her sleeping actually hasn't been too bad: sometimes she has four naps a day, sometimes two; sometimes she wakes up three times a night, sometimes only once.  But she never has followed a good day with a good night, so if the day is going well, I know I'm in for it that night.  I'm in for it tonight.


Carmen also started solid food.  She gets more on her face than in her tummy, but we are persisting.  She started on rice cereal with formula, but seems to much prefer avocado with formula.  I think she even actually ate some today!  Over this next week, I am trying her on sweet potato and banana too.  I bet she is like her mum and loves banana.

The weather has been muggy and warm, but we are expecting rain all week, so hopefully things will cool off a bit.  The rain is really a good thing, because then I don't have to worry about not taking Carmen on the walks she won't let me take her on :)  It would be nice if I could start shedding some baby weight, but it's not to be.

Anyway, we got some good photos of our little Monkey this week.  There are also two videos, one of Carmen laughing, and one rather long video of Carmen eating her first solid foods.  This one ends like it starts - a mess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhHvk2PHs6I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCWk8mwvJx8


Carmen at 4 months

18 weeks
She has replaced her dummy for her thumb...

I can't seem to stop kissing her.